Friends, Rivals, and Lovers
by MetalPrincess13
Summary: While trying to figure out how to tell Brock and Misty about his relationship with Gary, Tracey comes up with an idea for an adventure. Can the four of them, plus Ash, make it to Sinnoh in one piece in time for Ash's next competition?
1. Chapter 1

**Friends, Rivals, and Lovers**

Summary: While trying to figure out how to tell Brock and Misty about his relationship with Gary, Tracey comes up with an idea for adventure and can only hope that his boyfriend will go along with it. Can the five of them make it to Sinnoh in one piece in time for Ash's competition? Takes place towards the end of _Secrets Told_ but can be read as a standalone. I figured I would write this separately to keep _ST_ as the coming-of-age story it is as of now. I should also explain that, in this fic, Sinnoh, Johto, and Kanto are all on the same continent with Mt. Silver being at the southern end of the mountain range containing Mt. Coronet; nonetheless, I did try to follow the general geography of the games while adding my own spin to it.

Hope you guys enjoy this, please review and let me know what you think.

Rated T for safety I guess, might change though…

Disclaimer – I own the storyline, my interpretation of the characters, and nothing else.

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Chapter One

Tracey Sketchit meandered through the Oak house with a distinct purpose that he hoped to avoid, however a week's worth of planning with Brock was going to go to waste if he didn't go through with it. In the end, that was what ultimately led him to his boyfriend's closed bedroom door. He stood before the door, gazing at the scratch marks left behind by Umbreon and Arcanine's pawing at the door over the past three years without really seeing them as he tried to muster up the nerve to simply knock. The room beyond the door was quiet, as was typical for a late Saturday morning, especially considering the fact that Gary had gone over to a friend's house after Brock, Misty, Ash, and Mrs. Ketchum had left rather late the night before. No doubt the teenager was still sleeping.

Brock and Misty had been in town for the past week while Ash had been around for nearly two months, visiting home and training in preparation for the upcoming competition in the Sinnoh region. The competition was in three weeks and time was quickly running out. Now twenty-five years in age, Brock had decided that this would be his final journey so that he could dedicate his time to breeding pokemon; Misty, now twenty-one, was exclusively a gym leader and had taken time off from the Cerulean City Gym to travel with her old friends to witness yet another competition. It was likely that this would be her final journey abroad as well; with these facts in mind, Brock had made it clear that he was not settling for a simple trek to Cerulean to catch a ferry to Sunyshore so that they could make a short trek to the Pokemon League. It had been over a year since Tracey had last been on a trip like the ones he had been on in the Orange Islands with Misty and Ash and he longed desperately for some sort of adventure – Gary's frequent research trips with other professors left him feeling left out as he so ardently hoped for a chance for a bold excursion somewhere other than Pallet Town or the surrounding area.

_That_ was the main thing that drove Tracey to come up with the idea that he had secretly harbored until his friends from Pewter and Cerulean made it to town. He had hoped to talk his younger boyfriend into tagging along as he had never had the opportunity to have an adventure with Gary, though that was largely due to the relationship being kept secret. Once May Oak had told nearly everyone in town about the relationship and, consequently, her younger brother's sexuality, it became apparent to Tracey that they now had options.

And those options certainly included going on a trip with friends.

While stopping by Ash's house to hang out with his three friends, he had found Brock poring over maps of the three mainland regions in the Ketchum kitchen. Curious about the young man's plans, Tracey had joined him and, sensing something deeper than innocent interest, Brock had invited Tracey along, teasingly giving him permission to "drag along that spoiled pain" that he had decided to fall in love with. As soon as Tracey told him about his desire to travel again, Brock included him in the planning process, not only including five people in his considerations of supplies, but looking to Tracey for ideas. A week later, he still hadn't mentioned it to Gary though he was fairly certain that something showed in his behavior.

Either way, the plan was to leave on Monday which meant he absolutely _had_ to speak with Gary today. He was determined to tag along with his friends, even if Gary didn't go, though he was definitely going to try his hardest to get his stubborn boyfriend to agree. It was now or never.

With a weary sigh, he quietly opened the door and entered the surprisingly dark room. Closing the door behind him as he gave his eyes a second to adjust to the difference in light, Tracey was surprised when a soft glow appeared on the floor near the bed. Umbreon came into view, curled sleepily next to her trainer's bed, her rings giving off just enough light for Tracey to cross the room without falling over anything. Sun poured into the room as Tracey pulled open the dark curtains covering the windows, eliciting a groan from the direction of the bed. Crossing his arms, Tracey stood at the foot of the bed and shook his head in mild amusement as he looked down at his boyfriend.

"It's after eleven, you know," he said simply.

Gary rolled over and glared sleepily at Tracey, who never lost his grin. "Too early for a Saturday," he muttered.

Tracey laughed softly as he climbed onto the bed. There was a lack of grogginess to Gary's voice that indicated he had been awake for awhile and simply hadn't felt like getting out of bed. _Typical_, Tracey thought amusedly. "That certainly explains why you're awake," he teased, watching as his boyfriend stretched languidly before sitting up and allowing the blanket to pool in his lap.

"What's up?" Gary asked, ignoring the comment.

"I wanted to talk to you before anyone came over today," Tracey began. Gary frowned and Tracey knew that he was wondering if something was wrong. He gave his boyfriend a small smile to reassure him that the conversation would not involve anything bad. "I have a proposition for you," he finished, adding a slightly teasing lilt to his voice in order to appeal to Gary's curiosity.

"Which would be?" Tracey watched, rather distracted, as Gary stood and slipped out of the loose gym shorts he had been sleeping in to pull on a pair of clean boxers from his dresser.

"You realize how distracting that is, right?" Tracey asked, earning a smug grin from the younger boy. "Ash and company are leaving on Monday –"

"Finally," a dark mutter came from the closet as Gary fished out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

Tracey closed his eyes for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing that Gary wasn't going to like the next thing he said. "I'm going with them."

Gary paused as he tugged on his jeans and frowned at the other boy. "Are you serious?" he asked in disbelief, wondering when on earth this little development had come into play. The nod from his boyfriend confirmed that he was, indeed, quite serious.

"I was hoping you would come along with us," Tracey explained. Gary closed his eyes for a moment and groaned, thinking of a way to tell his lover that he genuinely did not want to go. "Brock and I have been working on an itinerary for the past week; it should take two weeks for us to get there. Fourteen days exactly."

"Isn't there a ferry from Cerulean to Sunyshore?" Gary interrupted.

Tracey sighed softly and nodded. "There is," he began dismissively, "but we worked out a different way to get there… Brock wanted to do something adventurous, this is going to be his last time traveling with Ash and Misty and he wanted something big to go out on. To be honest, I'd really like to do this with you, Gary. I miss traveling sometimes and you always go off with the professors and have your little adventures."

Meeting Tracey's eyes with as serious an expression as Garyy could muster, he interrupted before the other could continue. "Trace, I just got home from being gone for three weeks; I'd like to stay home for awhile before rushing off again." And he was being honest: he had been in the Orange Islands with Professors Ivy and Birch, on one of their Sharpedo tagging and tracking research expeditions for three weeks. It had been Gary's third time doing it with them and, in all honesty, he wasn't quite sure that he had the energy for another "adventure" so soon afterwards. With three healing injuries, Gary was still exhausted, despite the fact that he had been home for a week now.

"But, Gary –"

Silently, the younger of the two held up his right hand so that Tracey could see the cut on his palm that had yet to heal entirely and he stopped mid-sentence. That cut had taken five stitches and nearly two weeks to get this far healed – one of the Sharpedo had managed to snag Gary's hand as he tried to attach a tracker to its fin. "Adventures tend to go hand-in-hand with injuries, Trace. No pun intended," he muttered, glancing at the scab that had formed on his hand. Seeing that Tracey was about to continue, he gestured toward his leg, which bore a series of scars from a Tentacruel attack that had occurred when he had to dive with Professor Ivy and some of her assistants to tag some of the sharks.

Tracey went on anyways. "Gary, I know better than anyone that you always get hurt because you like doing dangerous things – think of how many times I've had to give you stitches!" Stubborn as he was, even Gary had to admit he had a point there. "And we both know how much you enjoy getting out and doing that type of stuff." Tracey sighed and ran a hand through his black hair, messing it up slightly. "I've already talked to Professor Oak," he said softly after a short pause.

Gary knew that he shouldn't have been surprised – if Tracey had spent a week going over it with Brock then he must have talked to the professor about it as well. After all, he did need his approval to leave the lab for that period of time. Not to mention the fact that he wanted Gary to join them.

"I'm going with them," Tracey pressed on. "Even if you aren't. If you really want to stay here by yourself, then go ahead… But please, at least think about it for me?" With that said, he rose from the bed and left the room, leaving Gary behind to finish dressing as he thought over what had just happened.

As he sank onto the bed with a weary groan Umbreon climbed onto the bed with a reproachful look in her eyes that made Gary scowl slightly. He scratched Umbreon behind her ears and thought over the idea of Tracey going off with his friends for two whole weeks while wondering how, exactly, he would feel once he left without him. Almost immediately, Gary knew that he wouldn't be able to stand it. Hell, he could barely stand being gone while he knew that Tracey was safe at home, much less when he was out in the wild without his boyfriend being able to check on him.

"Want to go an adventure, 'Bre?" he asked his pokemon with a forced smile. Umbreon's excited response was blatant as her eyes widened and became brighter, her ears perked, and her tail began wagging hard enough to knock several pillows off the bed, causing a true grin to curve Gary's lips.

Sighing in resignation, he nodded and stood up to leave the room in search for Tracey to inform him of his decision.


	2. Chapter 2

**Friends, Rivals, and Lovers**

Thanks to licoricejellybean and Defiant Vixen for your reviews! I'm so glad the first chapter went over so well! The last chapter was originally done in first-person from Gary's POV, hence the few typos I noticed where I forgot to change a word to fit the third person format – I fixed them so there shouldn't be any more issues like that.

Chapter Two

Monday morning was beautiful – the sun was high, the sky was clear, and there was enough of a breeze to keep the walking couple comfortable. Tracey kept his head down, eyes focused on the itinerary that he and Brock had written out as he and Gary made their way to Ash's house to depart for the two-week journey they were about to take part in. A stone tumbled past Tracey's foot, obviously having been kicked by something or someone. Turning to face the disgruntled nineteen-year-old who trailed along behind him, he sighed softly as he tried to read Gary's expression; something made harder than usual by the dark sunglasses that concealed his boyfriend's eyes.

"It's not too late to turn back, Gary," he said quietly, though that was the last thing he wanted the boy to do. Despite being nearly to the Ketchum house, the Oak residence was, at most, a ten minute walk from where they were standing currently.

Gary groaned in response and kicked at another rock on the road, causing Tracey to roll his eyes a bit. "I said I was going to go with you, so I'm going," he replied dryly, obviously not happy by the idea.

"Then stop kicking the rocks!"

Gary remained quiet for the rest of the short walk, seeming as though he was lost in his own thoughts until they made it to Ash's house. Much to Tracey's relief, Gary seemed to relax a bit once they were inside the Ketchum home and had eaten a rather hearty breakfast that Delia had prepared for the traveling group. While Ash began chattering on about some of the pokemon they would likely see, Tracey joined Brock in checking their supplies and looked over the weather forecasts for the areas they would be traveling in the next few days – to his pleasure, not only was the weather clear, but they weren't missing anything and Gary had managed to join Ash in a civil conversation.

Despite a rocky start, which had also involved nearly dragging Gary out of bed, things were now going smoothly.

--- --- ---

A soft groan forced Tracey to glance up from his sketchbook as he drew the Kadabra that Ash was currently battling; Gary sat down next to him and he turned his attention back to the sketch. The group was now on Route Twenty-two, quickly making their way west to the Johto region in the mid afternoon. They were making excellent time – better than they had hoped, in fact – Route One had been unsurprisingly deserted and they had reached Viridian City within a few hours before stopping at the Pokemon Center for a quick lunch and then heading straight to the route that they were now on.

"What's wrong?" Tracey asked, shooting another glance at his boyfriend while carefully shading the picture he was working on.

"Nothing, my legs just hurt from walking so much," Gary replied quietly, picking at the grass a bit as he released Umbreon from her pokeball and watched as she ran over to play with Misty's Azurill and Tracey's Marill.

Tracey laughed softly but didn't look up from the sketchbook. "It's amazing how everything only bothers you when you're not home," he commented, thinking of the many injuries he had seen Gary sustain at the lab with barely any complaint.

"I'm not used to walking for six hours straight."

"We haven't been walking for six hours _straight_ – we've taken breaks, Gary. And you're more than capable of spending the entire day surfing at the beach so I don't see how this is any different."

At this point Brock looked up from the maps that he had been reviewing. "No lovers' tiffs, guys; I already had to warn Ash and Misty about that," he interjected lightly as he went back to trying to figure out exactly where on the route they were.

"Oh, is _that_ why they've been so quiet today?"

Brock forced down a small laugh at Gary's comment, part of him was glad that the second-youngest member of the group was joking instead of sulking but another part was a bit annoyed that he had to be so sarcastic. Nearly everything that had been said to the teenager had been met with dry responses, eye rolls, and that never-ending cynicism that Tracey somehow managed to overlook. It wasn't that he didn't approve of his friend's relationship with the young researcher – quite the opposite, in fact – it was just that he had a bit of a hard time seeing how _anyone_ could put up with that sarcasm for over a year. Patient as he was, he was certain that he would grow tired of it but perhaps it was the fact that Tracey dealt with it that showed the depth of the relationship.

As Brock returned to his role of navigator, Tracey shot a small glare at his boyfriend, hoping he would get the point of that please-stop-being-a-brat look that he was giving him. He loved the boy dearly but there were times when Gary would, seemingly deliberately, push him to the edge of his patience. No matter how much Gary had mellowed since Tracey had met him back when he was an arrogant and spoiled thirteen-year-old, he still loved the attention his attitude could earn him and he still enjoyed getting a rise out of people. Still, despite how annoying the sarcasm was getting, Tracey knew Gary far too well to be put off by it – his endless supply of comments indicated that he wasn't as miserable as his slouched posture and scowl would lead one to believe.

Gary sighed softly, seeming to deflate slightly when he received no amusing responses to his remark. With a huff, he stood and headed over to his backpack to find something to amuse himself with while Ash finished up his battle. He could tell that his behavior was starting to get on the nerves of both Brock and Tracey but trying to get a rise out of them was starting to take too much effort on his part. The August heat was starting to get to him, making him drowsy and a bit ill-feeling – a combination that made him want to lay down and sleep for a bit. On top of that, he was sore from walking so much and the straps of his backpack had been digging into the sunburn that he had gotten a few days earlier from stupidly spending the entire day at the beach with a few friends.

Several yards away from his perch on a fallen tree trunk, Ash's Pikachu finished off its opponent and Ash and Misty slapped each other a high-five after the other trainer departed, causing a faint smile to curve Gary's lips in amusement. Years ago, a similar scene would have caused a rather confusing flash of jealousy to well up in him but that was no longer the case. Sighing again, he took a long sip from his water bottle, hoping in vain that the now-warm water would cool him down a bit.

Over by Tracey, Brock folded his map again and placed it in one of his vest pockets as he decided which way to head. Noticing that Ash and Misty had somehow dissolved into a fit of bickering within the last few seconds while Gary had resorted to resting his chin in his hand with a miserable expression on his face, he groaned. "Looks like we'll have our hands full with these three, huh, Tracey?" he asked as the other boy closed his sketchbook and slipped it back into his bag.

"Gary's easy enough to deal with, just leave him to me," Tracey replied with a smile, frowning slightly as he glanced over at his boyfriend. "At least Ash and Misty don't fight as much as they used to."

A laugh escaped Brock as he recalled the pokemon he had released during the break. "That's because there's too much sexual tension between them," he pointed out, noticing that the two had already stopped bickering though Misty seemed to have a faint blush on her cheeks.

"How long do you think we have before we hear that they're dating?"

"I don't know… They've made it this long – maybe a year?" Brock suggested with a shrug. "You know how thick-headed Ash is."

Tracey nodded in agreement, snickering softly as Misty suddenly slapped Ash in the back of the head for some comment that they hadn't heard. "They're already acting like a couple; I'd give them about six months. Nothing to sudden."

Across the small clearing the group was in, Gary rolled his eyes as Ash retorted to Misty's slap, causing the girl to stalk off to where her young pokemon was still playing with Marill and Umbreon. Finally having had enough with the bickering, he spoke up. "Christ, Ash; just kiss the girl already!"

Brock and Tracey both laughed at the sudden comment, noticing the way the other two turned scarlet as they turned to Gary with irritable responses. "Okay, I take back what I said earlier – Gary's easy to deal with on his own and so are the love birds. Together, I think we might have some trouble," Tracey admitted, forcing back an amused smile at the scene unfolding.

"You know, with Gary involved, those two fools might just get together sooner than either of us are betting on."

Tracey nodded once more. "You might be right, but I somehow doubt they'll come around if one of the three of them are dead."

Noticing the way the bickering between the three youngest members of the group had turned into a full-blown argument, the watcher and gym leader stepped in, Tracey taking Gary off to a slightly-secluded part of the clearing to calm him with a few well-placed kisses while Brock stepped between Ash and Misty to break them up. A few long moments later and they were on their way again, Tracey leading a rather smug Gary by the hand in order to keep him away from Ash and Misty in hopes of preventing him from baiting either of the other two. Brock led the group with Ash at his side, claiming that he didn't trust the teen not to wander off and get lost, while Misty trailed along behind them all, silently cursing Gary and his big mouth.

Noticing the way Gary shot a smirk in Misty's direction, Tracey groaned and tugged irritably at his boyfriend's wrist. He couldn't help but wonder if he had thought too soon that things were going smoothly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Friends, Rivals, and Lovers**

Chapter Three

At the head of the group, Brock and Ash stopped suddenly, causing the other three people following them to stop as well. The trail they were walking on had come to a fork that appeared to go around a large field of grass that came up to Brock's thighs, though it looked as though the trail continued on the other side of this field, he couldn't be sure which path they should take. He suppressed a groan – this didn't look familiar from the last time they had been through this part of the region, granted, that had been about six years ago. For perhaps the eighty-third time today, he pulled out his trusted map and quickly found the area that he supposed they were in before sighing in exasperation. The forked path wasn't even on the map! He mentally cursed himself, knowing that he should have bought a newer and updated map of Kanto before heading out.

While Brock continued to scowl at his map, Tracey noticed a sign that pointed in the direction of both forks while bearing the words "Indigo Plateau, Route 26, Tojho Falls." He found it safe to assume that the two forks connected on the other side of this large field, giving them three ways to push on: either of the two ways around it or straight through it.

"I'm pretty sure they connect, this is probably just a training area. Or an area set aside to attract pokemon for traveling trainers to catch," Gary spoke up from behind Brock as he gazed over the field. He glanced back at Tracey and noticed the sign that his boyfriend was peering at; a simple look at the sign was all he needed to confirm his suspicions. "I say we just go through it," he suggested.

Brock looked over at him and followed his gaze to the sign. Upon reading it, he nodded as though he now understood something and folded his map once more. "Guess you're right about the connecting paths," he confirmed. "Have you been through here recently?"

"Not since I left for the Johto League," Gary replied with a shrug. "I read an article a couple years ago about the Pokemon League changing a few of their routes to set aside special areas for trainers and pokemon. Of course, I figured you would have known that and would have already owned an updated map. Clearly, I was wrong."

"We've been a little busy traveling through Hoenn and Sinnoh for the past few years, Gary – we didn't exactly have that much time to read articles!" Ash snapped, crossing his arms over his chest as his Pikachu agreed with a miffed squeak from his perch on Ash's shoulder.

Gary rolled his eyes and was about to respond when Tracey's hand wrapped around his wrist and tugged lightly, saying without any words that he needed to knock it off. Fortunately for him, Misty spoke up instead. "Sure, you didn't have time, Ash," she said sarcastically. "I'm _sure_ you never a day off or took a short break in a city during your travels and I'm _sure_ Professor Oak never warned you about the routes being renovated."

"Guys! We don't have that much further to go until we're out of Kanto," Brock interjected, pinching the bridge of his nose with a tired sigh. He paused for a moment, making sure that the three troublesome members of the group weren't going to keep arguing before going on in a cheerful voice that sounded to be a bit forced. "Now, the only question is: right or left?"

"Straight," Gary replied flatly.

"Interesting choice for you to make," Misty muttered. Tracey wearily rubbed his temples as Gary turned suddenly to her, a venomous retort on the tip of his tongue; Brock stepped between them before Gary could say anything and hit Misty over the head with his map, eliciting a sudden yelp from the girl.

"I agree with Gary." The comment was closely followed by an excited chirp, which was met by a roll of the eyes from Gary. He couldn't stand the way the little electric rodent always agreed with its trainer – it annoyed him to no end.

Surprisingly enough, it was Tracey who spoke up next. "It would be faster to cut through the grass, guys."

"It would be, but we don't know that this is actually a training area, there might be a reason why there are two paths," Brock reasoned.

Tracey nodded in response, taking his reasoning at face value while noticing that Misty seemed highly relieved that someone didn't want to cut through the tall grass. If it was thigh-high on Brock, it would be waist high on her and the last thing she felt like doing was walking through waist-high grass in a pair of small shorts. The potential cuts and scratches were enough to keep her away but the fact that pokemon – possibly dangerous pokemon – would be in there made her wary. Of course, that was ignoring the bugs that were most certainly in there. Her phobia of any sort of little creepy crawly had, if anything, only strengthened with time.

Gary sighed and rolled his eyes, reaching for a pokeball on his waist and calling out his Skarmory. Having not expected to have a pokemon suddenly join them, the other four people jumped slightly at the appearance of the large steel-type bird. Ignoring the confused looks from his peers, Gary climbed onto the back of his pokemon and quickly instructed it to fly over the field so that they could check it out. In no time, the bird had spread its wings and taken to the sky.

Seeing the nervous expressions of Misty and Brock, Tracey shook his head slightly, an amused smile gracing his features. "He knows what he's doing," he reassured them, following the bird's progress with his eyes as he did so.

Skarmory circled the field slowly, flying at a height that allowed Gary to easily see the ground while he searched for anything that appeared to be remotely dangerous. Finding nothing, he instructed the pokemon to return to the others.

"It's fine," he told them as he slid down from his perch. "Just grass –"

"Did you see any pokemon?" Ash interrupted excitably.

"A few Nidoran in a little clearing toward the north, some Doduo near the middle, and some Ponyta in the south-western corner. We'll be fine."

--- --- ---

A shrill scream cut through the still afternoon air, sending nearby pokemon scampering for hiding places while four males sighed in resignation.

Since this was now the fourth shriek that had halted progress over the past half hour, Brock simply ignored Misty's yells about some sort of bug crawling on her – normally he would stop and help his friend but this trip was proving to be the one that tried his patience the most. At this point, he would let Misty scream it out until the bug itself flew away in fear. He had helped her with the first bug but that had only earned him several slaps to his arms and back while she flailed in sheer terror over a tiny stick bug. Of course, Gary and Ash hadn't made things any easier by laughing nearly hysterically at the scene while Tracey tried to calm the girl down.

Tracey had helped her the second and third time a bug had appeared but, this time, he simply watched as she shrieked, hoping someone else would step up and shoo away the beetle that was currently resting on the side of her denim shorts. He knew Brock wasn't going to do it since Misty had nearly killed him when he snatched up the walking stick that had perched on her upper chest, near the base of her throat, and Gary would sooner throw a spider at her than pick a beetle off of her clothing. Finally, Ash stepped forward and reached for the little insect, causing it to run away from his hand, which in turn caused Misty to scream louder.

"Not even May is _this_ scared of bugs," Gary complained, grimacing at the yells that were escaping the girl.

"That's because your sister thinks they're cute," Tracey replied, watching amusedly as Misty began slapping Ash's hands away as he tried to pick the beetle off of her stomach.

"Maybe we should duct tape her mouth shut, that would make the trip faster."

"We didn't bring duct tape, Gary."

"Why not? We should have."

"We didn't bring it because you knew I wouldn't want to play our bondage games around Ash," Tracey replied dryly, causing Gary to laugh at the joke.

Grinning, Gary leaned forward and quickly kissed him on the lips, eliciting a small squeak of surprise from his boyfriend. The kiss was short but they parted with smiles, momentarily forgetting about the duo that was running around them while Ash continued to try getting rid of the bug. Feeling a bit elated from even that small kiss, Gary pulled Tracey against his chest, allowing the shorter boy to turn in his arms and lean back against him. Tracey sighed softly as Gary began pressing small kisses along his neck, laughing quietly as he watched Ash and Misty through half-closed eyes. His eyes slipped closed as Gary began nurturing a particularly sensitive spot on his neck while Brock seemed to suddenly become quite interested in his compass.

A loud and angry squawk from Pikachu caused him to open his eyes once more, only to close them against the sudden bright light from a Thunder Shock attack that struck Ash and Misty both. Gary paused from his ministrations and watched as Pikachu stopped his attack and began running his paws over his tail, which had apparently been stepped. He felt bad for the little creature but had to force down a laugh as Misty and Ash collapsed on the ground, twitching slightly as the offending bug flew off of Misty's shirt to land on a nearby blade of grass. Smiling slightly, he scooped up the beetle and placed it on the tip of Tracey's nose, causing the other boy to laugh and shake his head so that it flew away. He pressed a kiss against Tracey's cheek before resting his head on his shoulder and waiting for Ash and Misty to recover enough to continue.

--- --- ---

"I knew this was going to happen!" Misty complained loudly as Brock peered over the map with pursed lips. "Why is it we can never go a day without getting lost?"

"We don't get lost_ that_ often, Mist."

"Shut up, Ash!"

"Don't start," Tracey warned quietly, glancing at Gary to make sure that he understood that he was also being warned. Misty and Ash both fell quiet while Gary sat on a nearby boulder and pulled out his cell phone to check the GPS application on it. "It's not that we're lost, it's just that we're not sure exactly where on the route we are. We haven't left Route Twenty-two yet."

Seeing that Misty was looking ready to argue, Brock suggested taking a break – something that Tracey and Ash quickly agreed to. Misty stalked off to a pond that was a bit of a distance away and plopped down at the water's edge after retrieving her foldable fishing pole from her bag, leaving the four males to fend for themselves. Eager to explore the surrounding area, Ash headed off to a nearby wooded area with Pikachu happily trailing after him. Brock continued to look over his map and finally sat down after a few minutes, spreading the paper across the ground as he peered at his compass. They weren't lost – that was the position he was maintaining on their situation.

They had simply gotten off the trail and weren't entirely sure which way to go next in order to get to the next route. They had come to another grassy field though this one didn't have a forking path going around it, instead the path had simply ended at the field. Not wanting a repeat of every bug incident that had occurred in the last field, the group headed around the field and had somehow managed to make it around the grassy area without finding the other side of the trail. Brock was certain that by heading slightly north and then west, they would come to Route Twenty-six with no problem but he wanted to be sure of that first.

Happy for the break, Tracey dropped his backpack next to Gary and retrieved his sketchbook before quietly making his way over the same area Ash had gone off to. Within a few minutes, he found a few Nidoran grazing in a small clearing and, being careful not to make any noise, kneeled in the tall grass and opened the sketchbook as he picked a particularly cute female to sketch. Unaware of his presence, the pokemon continued going about their business until a scream sounded, causing them to freeze and then flee when Tracey jumped up at the sound of Ash's voice.

"Ash?" he called worriedly as he heard the sounds of twigs breaking and fallen leaves crunching underfoot from somewhere to his left. Ash and Pikachu suddenly appeared, running full out, clearly fleeing something without stopping. "What is it?"

"Run!" Ash simply yelled, scopping up his pokemon and dashing for the far side of the clearing, heading towards the place where the other three travelers were spending their break.

Unsure of what to do, Tracey stayed in place until the sound of hooves on the ground caused him to turn just in time to see a Ponyta charging through the same thicket that Ash had just appeared from. Quickly moving out of the obviously angry pokemon's way, Tracey broke into a run, following the pokemon and his friend.

"Ash, what did you do this time?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Friends, Rivals, and Lovers**

Thanks to Defiant Vixen for reviewing! I'm glad you like all the little Gary/Tracey bits because I love writing those parts! : )

Chapter Four

A serene smile graced Misty's lips as she carefully set free the Goldeen she had just caught with her fishing pole, it was the third one she had caught and she had already seen several Magikarp and even a Slowpoke while she had been sitting in this spot. It was a nice place, she had decided. She wondered where Tracey had gone, knowing that he would likely enjoy this spot since he would be able to watch and sketch several different species.

Just as she thought of her friend, she heard a noise from hear right and turned to see Gary sit down next to her. Casting out her line again, she glanced over at him, only a bit surprised that he seemed more interested in his cell phone than in her. "What are you doing?" she asked curiously as she gazed out over the water.

"Checking the GPS on here… I'm betting that we're actually pretty close to Route Twenty-six since we've been on this one for four hours now."

"You have a GPS application on your phone?" Misty asked in surprise. Gary nodded quietly. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"Because I figured Brock had it under control. That was before I figured out that he has a map from seven years ago."

Misty sighed at his words and rested her chin on her hand while watching a few Poliwags play in the center of the pond. "He's usually more prepared than–" She stopped midsentence as they heard a shout echo from the woods that were nearby.

Gary finally tore his gaze from the phone in his hand and looked up, searching for the source of the sound. He knew that it wasn't Tracey's voice but he also knew that his boyfriend had gone in the same direction that the scream had come from. Instinctively, his hand reached for a pokeball and he called out Arcanine, something he had always done whenever something seemed off while he was traveling as a trainer. The large fire dog looked around in confusion, trying to figure out why he had been called out of his ball – he could sense the tension in his trainer and the girl next to him but couldn't see the source of worry.

Standing up from her position on the ground, Misty quickly reeled in her line and collapsed the fishing pole back to its traveling size. Following Gary's lead, she pulled a pokeball from her belt and released her Starmie. She could see that Brock had jumped up from his seat on the ground quite a distance away and had his hand hovering near his own pokeballs. There was a moment or two of tension until Ash burst through the edges of the trees with Pikachu in his arms and a furious Ponyta on his trail. Tracey followed a second later and darted over to Brock immediately as Ash made a break for the pond, causing Gary, Misty, and their pokemon to flee out of his path.

Ash stopped at the edge of the water, obviously hoping for an escape that clearly didn't exist; seeing the fire pokemon swiftly approaching him, he did the only thing he could think of and dove into the lake. The Ponyta skidded to a halt next to the spot where Ash and Pikachu had disappeared into the water, confused over the sudden disappearance of the two creatures that had bothered it. It could see the four other people about the clearing along with the two pokemon that had been called forth but didn't attempt to go after them – it knew it was easily outnumbered and out powered. Besides, these creatures hadn't done anything to it yet. Ash resurfaced near the center of the lake with Pikachu clinging to his hat, clearly annoyed by what his trainer had done. Pleased to see that the intruder was out of its territory, the Ponyta snorted and trotted off, leaving everyone rather confused.

All five trainers breathed a sigh of relief when it returned to the forest and Misty recalled her Starmie while Gary left Arcanine out of its pokeball as he was still wary after the sudden interruption to their break. "What in the world was _that_?" asked Misty as Ash began swimming back to the shoreline.

Gary merely shrugged his shoulders, relaxing slightly when he saw that the Ponyta wasn't returning. "No idea," he admitted. "Ponyta are usually much more calm than that."

An irritated groan escaped Misty and she stomped over to where Ash was now climbing out of the water. "What did you do this time, Ash Ketchum?" she demanded angrily.

Having been ready to give the boy a tongue lashing himself, Gary watched on, rather amused as the redhead proceeded to yell at him while Ash tried to stutter some excuse that Gary was certain had more to do with stupidity than anything else. He couldn't be entirely sure what his former rival had done and he had to admit that he didn't exactly want to know. Noticing that Misty's shouts were getting louder, Gary shook himself out of his thoughts concerning what Ash might have done and turned his attention back to the scene next to the lake. Ash must have said something particularly stupid, Gary assumed, because Misty shoved him rather suddenly, causing the teen to lose his footing and fall backwards into the water.

Gary glanced back at Tracey and Brock, wondering if one of them were going to break the two brats up. He met Tracey's eyes and then heard another shout; wondering what on Earth Ash could possibly have done in the split second that he turned away, he looked back at the lake to find a Poliwhirl standing in the water near Ash. Both Ash and Misty were dripping water and Gary could only assume that Ash had landed on the pokemon, inciting it's annoyance and causing it to use an attack on them.

Tracey and Brock both sighed, knowing that things had just gone from bad to worse. The older of the two immediately went over to Ash and Misty to separate them before they could kill each other while Tracey calmly went over to where Gary was trying not to laugh at the sight of a thoroughly pissed off and soaked Misty. "Never a dull moment," Tracey muttered when he reached his boyfriend, pausing to scratch Arcanine behind the ears as the dog leaned against him with a soft whine. "Aren't you glad I talked you into coming along?"

The amused smile faded from Gary's face at the question. "It'll take more than a mini stampede and a Water Gun attack to make me happy that I came." A small beep from his cell phone sounded suddenly, indicating that the GPS had finally received a signal that would, hopefully, tell them where they were. He glanced down at the screen, doing a double take when their coordinates appeared on a map before rolling his eyes when he realized where they were.

"I forgot that your new phone had that… Maybe we should have used it since the beginning."

"Where are we?" Misty demanded, causing both boys to jump as they hadn't noticed her sudden appearance at their side.

"At the edge of the Viridian Forest," Gary replied, without missing a beat.

"What?" Misty gasped as Tracey rolled his eyes. Gary's tone may have been believable but that slight gleam in his eyes couldn't fool Tracey, not after living with him for several years, and certainly not after dating him for the past year and a half.

"You were wrong about still being on Route Twenty-two, Trace."

"What do you mean?" Tracey asked, his curiosity suddenly sparked as he noticed Gary's sarcasm fade in the boy's second comment. Wordlessly, Gary held the phone out to him so that he could see the map. "What am I looking at?"

"Well, this right here is us." Gary pointed to the large red dot showing their position, causing Tracey to sigh.

"I kind of figured that, Gary."

"You asked. Over here is Route Twenty-two," he continued, scrolling the image on the screen to reveal the land quite a bit further north of them. "And over here is Route Twenty-six." The image was moved again, this time to show some rough terrain and a large lake to the west.

Tracey took the phone out of his boyfriend's hand and studied it closely for a moment. "How did we get this far south?" he asked of no one in particular. The only response he received was a shrug from Gary while Misty looked back and forth between them before demanding exactly where they were and how badly they were lost. Tracey shook his head slightly at Misty's questions and called Brock over. "As long as Gary's phone works and we have signal, we're not technically 'lost,' Misty," he reasoned as Brock came over to them. "We're way south of Twenty-two – about a third of the way through the southern portion of Twenty-six actually –"

"We're not on Twenty-six," Gary hissed impatiently, taking his phone back and snapping it shut to preserve the battery power. "We're about two miles east of it. If we go about another mile south and then maybe a mile and a half west, we'll come to big lake that we can cross to get onto Route Twenty-six. There's a rest stop for trainers three or four miles south of there too, if we leave now and keep going without any _interruptions_," he paused here and glared at Misty and Ash, the latter of whom had just come over to see what was going on. "We should be able to get there fairly soon."

"It'll be dark in an hour," Brock pointed out, barely glancing at Gary as he pulled out his map again.

Frustrated by the way the man was still depending on his map that was obviously not helping them, Gary yanked the paper out of Brock's hands, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it over his shoulder. "If your map was actually helping us, we wouldn't have ended up three miles south of Twenty-two without realizing it! It takes twenty minutes to walk a mile – one mile south, two miles west, and another four miles south. That's seven miles we have to go to that rest stop. It'll take us two and a half hours if we stop for a break somewhere in there. No more than three hours."

"He has a point, you know," Tracey said thoughtfully. "It gets dark in an hour but we do have Umbreon with us; she can light the way with no problem. Two hours in the dark isn't a big deal, not if we can spend the night at a rest stop – they at least have vending machines and indoor places to set up sleeping bags."

"Not to mention showers," Misty added.

Brock groaned and stepped around Gary so that he could retrieve the rumpled map. "I don't like the idea of crossing a lake in the dark," he admitted.

"Then you can take Skarmory across it. Ash has his Staraptor that he can fly on, Misty has her Starmie –"

"And Gyarados," she interjected, earning a glare from Gary.

"Even better," Tracey spoke up before Gary could say something to her for interrupting him. "Gary and I can ride Blastoise and we'll all get across in one piece."

"Have anything to add to this, Ash?" Brock asked, realizing easily that he was being overruled.

Ash shifted his weight uncomfortably. "I guess it's a good thing Gary decided to come along," he finally said grudgingly. "I just hope your phone doesn't die."

A smirk crossed Gary's face while the five of them made their way over to the area where they had all ditched their bags. "So, it's settled then?" Tracey asked calmly as he pulled his backpack on.

"Yeah, Gary's the navigator until we get a new map," Misty agreed before Brock or Ash could say anything.

"Come on, guys; we're losing light," Brock pointed out, hoping that they could hurry and get to this rest stop. He remembered the rest stop, they had stopped there on the way into Johto the first time he, Misty, and Ash had gone to the region and he knew that it was essentially the halfway point along that route. The original plan had been to camp somewhere at the western end of Route Twenty-two or the northern end of Route Twenty-six; and that had been a rather optimistic plan. It had been far more likely for them to camp somewhere along the middle of the first route; making it halfway along the latter route would put them several hours ahead of schedule – far better timing than they could have hoped.


End file.
